England head coach Brendon McCullum said he was angry but also concerned about Ben Stokes after the nightclub incident involving his captain and fast bowler Gus Atkinson that led to \u200ctheir omission from the second test against New Zealand at The Oval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stokes and Atkinson \u200bbreached the \u2060team\u2019s midnight curfew and were reportedly present when an England \u200csecurity staff member was involved \u200cin an incident with a Saracens rugby player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You go from being bewildered, to angry, to gutted,\u201d McCullum told reporters on Monday. “Quickly through talking to Ben and Gus, my emotion turned \u200cto worry and concern – for Ben in particular,” McCullum added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The episode is the latest off-field \u2060issue for England after vice-captain Harry Brook was punched by a bouncer outside a nightclub in Wellington in October, while videos during the Ashes showed players drinking during a Noosa break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
England\u2019s Test coach Brendon McCullum at the team’s practice session. Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although managing director Rob Key played down talk of a “drinking culture\u201d in March, the ECB introduced a strict midnight curfew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCullum said he is in constant touch with \u200bStokes to ensure his well-being, and decisions regarding his captaincy will be taken \u200cat a later stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our concern is with Ben, our concern is handling that situation, making sure we look after him, that he feels supported by us and in communication \u2060with us,” McCullum said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We need to make sure we look after him, rally around him, and in time we’ll get on to those sorts of decisions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stokes was involved in an incident outside \u200ba Bristol \u200cnightclub in 2017, but was later cleared of charges. He took a break \u200cfrom cricket in 2021 to prioritise his mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whatever he is working through at the moment, it will be because Ben thinks that’s right for dealing with what he’s feeling at the \u200cmoment,” McCullum said. “We’ve \u200calways had the best intentions of English \u2060cricket at the core of what we are trying to achieve and \u200cthe decisions we’re trying to make.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Right now, I have a lot of respect, a lot of care for Ben, and I’m doing what I \u2060can to support him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe Root will captain a reshuffled side, with speedster \u200bJofra Archer returning, and batter Jordan Cox and fast bowler Sonny Baker making their debuts as England lead the three-match series 1-0. The second test begins \u2060on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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England head coach Brendon McCullum said he was angry but also concerned about Ben Stokes after the nightclub incident involving his captain and fast bowler Gus Atkinson that led to \u200ctheir omission from the second test against New Zealand at The Oval. Stokes and Atkinson \u200bbreached the \u2060team\u2019s midnight curfew and were reportedly present when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416377,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416376\/revisions\/416377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}